The present invention relates to computers and, more particularly, to error-handling in computers. In this specification, related art labeled “prior art” is admitted prior art; related art not labeled “prior art” is not admitted prior art.
Typically, when computers are powered on, firmware guides the initialization process until an operating system can assume control by causing itself and other programs to be executed on one or more processors. Once the operating system is running, it provides most of the functionality including managing programs and handling errors. To the latter end, the operating system stores a vector (pointer) to these error-handler routines in architected memory that the firmware is hard-wired to check in certain error-handling scenarios. Thus, when the firmware is required to handle an error, e.g., one that requires reinitialization of a processor on which an operating system is running, the firmware can read the vector to determine where the error-handling routines are stored so it can use them in helping the computer to recover.